NEW COACH KERR KEEPS IT HONEST
Goalie mentor is all about ‘focusing on basics’
There’s been a change around goal for the Vancouver Whitecaps.
No, it’s not David Ousted. You can breathe. The Danish shot stopper, a fan favourite and one of the best goalkeepers in MLS, is back for his fifth season here.
But the man barking at him is different.
Marius Røvde, the enigmatic and outspoken Norwegian who had been with the Caps since midway through their inaugural 2011 season, has joined expansion club Minnesota United FC.
Enter Stewart Kerr, a 42-yearold Scot who played a decade for Celtic and has coached at Motherwell in Scotland and both Toronto FC and Orlando City in MLS.
“I said to the guys, ‘The terror reign of Marius is over and a new one begins,’ ” Ousted said with a laugh Monday before the Caps left for a training camp in Wales.
“No, Marius is a great guy and he’s done a lot for me in the years I’ve been over here. I’ll still talk to him and give him some stick when we play Minnesota.
“Obviously there’s new eyes on me now. Stewart knows me from the league and has watched me. He comes in with a lot of positive feedback about what he can change to make me better. New eyes can always help.”
Ousted, 31, has largely had an excellent stint in MLS.
His best season was 2015, when he was an all-star and a finalist for MLS goalkeeper of the year as the Caps posted a league-best 13 shutouts and conceded just 36 goals in 34 games.
Last season, by contrast, was a struggle for most of the Caps. The team slumped to a 10-15-9 finish, missed the playoffs and conceded 52 goals — the second-worst defensive mark in the Western Conference.
Ousted made big saves, as he always seems to. But there were also uncharacteristic blunders at the back — punctuated by a miscommunication between Ousted and centre-back Kendall Waston that cost the Caps the Amway Canadian Championship in the dying seconds.
Kerr said his focus with Ousted and the other goalkeepers this season — Paolo Tornaghi and young Spencer Richey — will be the little things.
“We know David can make the big saves,” Kerr said. “We’re really going to be focusing on basics this year. Doing the simple things. Make the saves we should and the big saves will come.
“We want to minimize mistakes and make sure that things that maybe aren’t obvious to the naked eye, that we do those things professionally and correctly. Especially in pre-season, it’s about good habits.”
Kerr, in his thick Scottish accent, described his style as “quite loud; not crazy loud, but I demand work.”
He favours sessions that are short and sharp, demanding the details are done right and everything is done as if it’s game day.
“Nothing slack,” he said. “I’m a great believer that you train the way you play.”
Kerr initially moved from Scotland to Toronto because his wife took a job there. She’s in pharmaceuticals. The Toronto FC goalie coach job opened up a short while later and Kerr feels fortunate for that bit of timing.
In the U.K., he had a hand in the development of longtime Norwich City goalkeeper John Ruddy and Ireland international Darren Randolph. In MLS, he has groomed Joe Bendik and Canadian Quillan Roberts in Toronto, where he also helped prepare Brazil veteran Julio Cesar for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Bendik and Kerr were also together at Orlando City, where Bendik won MLS save of the week honours a record 11 times.
When Adrian Heath was fired in Orlando in July, Kerr built a relationship with the incoming Jason Kreis to the point that Kerr had actually signed a new two-year deal in December.
But when Vancouver came calling, he decided to return to Canada, where his wife can work.
“Professionally and personally, I felt it was the best option,” said Kerr. “Vancouver asked permission to speak to Orlando and Orlando was very gracious.
“Vancouver’s always been a city and a club I’ve admired and it was an easy decision.”
His wife and daughter will join him here at the end of the school year. In the meantime, it’s about building a relationship with his new students.
For both the coach and player, it’s a critical one.
“For me, it’s very important,” said Ousted, who has only known Røvde’s voice in Vancouver. “We joke about the goalkeepers’ union and it’s a special connection you need to have, to know how we work and to know the perfectionism that’s involved.
“If you’re on the same page, it just makes a better environment to work in.”
Said Kerr: “It’s massively important. You’ve got to get to know them off the pitch as well.”
The Wales trip, both said, will do them some good.